2018 in Review: Wheelchair basketball

Arguably the best wheelchair basketball World Championships took place in 2018. On other side of the world, nations were battling for 2019 Parapan American Games qualification. After a busy year in the sport, here are six 2018 highlights:

Great Britain stun favourites

With an experienced roster and winning track record, reigning Paralympic champions USA seemed to have all the ingredients for the 2018 World title. But plenty of growth and development have been in the works on the British men’s side over the past years, and they showed that in August’s World Championships.

The women’s bronze medal game was a thriller, with host Germany holding off China on the last second to win by one point. The surprise of the tournament was seeing how far China made in the competition. It was the highest finish at a Worlds for China (seventh at the 2014 edition) and matched the highest from a women’s Asian team (Japan finished fourth in 2002).

The 2017 Asia-Oceania Championship men’s silver medallists Iran saw their highest finish at a Worlds from an Asian men’s team. They battled with Australia in the bronze medal game, falling short of the title.